This release introduces a huge number of changes and updates to the UI. Until now, different areas of the game have used different UI toolkits, resulting in varying presentation and aesthetics across the game. We've been working hard over the past two months to convert and update the older screens. Multiple screens have been revamped or even completely redesigned.

Most significant of all is the return of the "experimental" multiplayer lobby, which has been thoroughly cleaned up and improved! To go along with it are brand new multiplayer Create and Join Game screens. These are enabled by default; the old multiplayer UI is still available, however, and can be re-enabled in preferences. This option will be removed in the next release.

Alongside that are a multitude of other improvements, including Recall and Advance Unit which now match the new Recruit dialog style introduced in 1.13.5. We've also improved performance and responsiveness of the UI overall; players should notice less lag when performing actions such as scrolling or moving sliders.

Keep in mind the UI transition is not fully complete; there still remain a few areas that we're working on redesigning that will hopefully be included in the next (1.13.7) release.

To go along with the sweet UI changes, we've also added several new terrains by doofus-01! These include new aquatic castles and encampments, updates to stone walls and brand new metal and wooden gates!

Another major change is the upgrade of our internal Lua library to 5.3.3. We've done our best to make sure the transition will be smooth for UMC creators, but we cannot guarantee there will be no issues. Hopefully no one will have any serious problems.

As per usual, this release also comes with the usual multitude of bugfixes and general improvements. Since there are so many major changes, we strongly recommend you test them all out (especially the new multiplayer UI and your Lua code) and report any bugs you find.

Download and install, making sure to keep the latest stable release around in case the game breaks and you find yourself unable to get your daily fix of Wesnoth.

Playtest the game, try out some of the API additions for content creators, and write down your observations in a notebook or similar.

If you encounter issues, don’t panic; instead, grab some bug spray and protective gear, and head directly to our instructions for reporting bugs. Most importantly, keep in mind that we can’t know about any bugs you encounter unless you report them to us!

Near the end of the release notes below you will find a list of the most important bugs known at the time of release. Some items are due to be fixed in the next release, but for others we depend on contributed patches from volunteer coders like you! (If you are a coder, that is.)

Check our bug tracker for a full list of bugs and feature requests, including other bugs found after the release was published.

Read on for more details about the most notable fixes and additions in this release:

A new candidate action (CA), called high XP attack, has been added to all general Wesnoth AIs in mainline, fixing a short-coming in the default AI's combat CA. Previously, the AI would only attack units 1 experience point (XP) from leveling under very specific and rarely occurring circumstances. It was possible to exploit this, for example, for blocking vital passages or keeping key units alive without these units ever being attacked, making scenarios much easier than they were intended.

The new CA fixes this hole and will generally, but not blindly, attack such units now. The attack logic is explained here. Since the new behavior is accomplished not by changing the existing attack code, but by adding a new candidate action, the previous behavior can be restored by removing the high_xp_attack CA, in case this is desired in specific scenarios.

Significantly improved move times for AI sides with many guardians

For content creators, a new Micro AI, controlling individual assassins or an entire assassin squad has been added. It is already being used in Heir to the Throne scenario 8, 'The Princess of Wesnoth'.

Many changes to the ai_helper utility function library, including bug fixes, making the functions deal correctly and consistently with hidden units and the addition of several new functions, as well as a variety of other AI bug fixes.

This is the first release to feature the preliminary redesign of the desert elf units. They are still a work-in-progress, and feedback is very appreciated. The campaign's difficulty menu is intended to allow one to choose whether to play with the old or new units, unfortunately in this release only the latter works.

It is now possible to remove an [object] easily via WML, using the new [remove_object] tag. This has the same effect as an object expiring, meaning that the unit is completely rebuilt and any direct modifications to its stats lost.

It is now possible to show two portraits in a single [message].

Lua code can now directly add or remove attacks on a unit.

It is now possible in debug mode to make a unit invulnerable with ;unit invulnerable=yes.

The built-in cave map generator (used with scenario_generation=cave) is now deprecated and will be removed in 1.14 or 1.15. Scenarios that previously used it should change to the new Lua cave map generator. To do this, use map_generation=lua with create_map = << return wesnoth.require("lua/cave_map_generator.lua").generate_map(...) >>.

The AI functions that return aspects (eg, get_aggression()) are now deprecated. Use the ai.aspects table instead to fetch these aspects. As an exception, ai.get_attacks() is not deprecated and works the same as before. (AI get_* functions that do not return aspects, such as get_targets(), are unaffected.)

The metatables used by the helper.lua module are now protected from external access. If anyone used getmetatable() to alter these metatables, their code will no longer work. (You shouldn't have been doing that in the first place, though.)

The Options and Description windows do not appear when invoked in the Addons Manager (bug #25130 [Gna.org]).

The MP server has trouble with Local player types in campaigns (bug #21965 [Gna.org]). We have decided to postpone dealing with this. In the meantime, you might try assigning such sides to the host, or running multiple instances of Wesnoth.

Under the Burning Suns: choosing the old units in the difficulty menu fails. This can be fixed by replacing the file data/campaigns/Under_the_Burning_Suns/utils/character-definitions.cfg with this fixed version.

As is to be expected with development releases, there may be many, many more changes in addition to the aforementioned, including WML and Lua API additions for user-made content creators, translation updates, and fixes for recent and long-standing issues. Most of these items are listed in the full changelog. If that seems too overwhelming, you might be glad to know we also provide an alternative players changelog including only those changes deemed to be relevant to the average player.

Do not be disappointed if the game crashes every now and then! Development versions are not the best for those in need of a stable gaming experience, who should stick to the current stable 1.12.x series instead. However, if you want to help us test what will eventually become the next stable 1.14.x series, you definitely should check out this release and report to us any problems you find so they can be fixed in a timely fashion. Content authors are also especially encouraged to port and test their content under new development versions to detect any problems with their add-ons or Wesnoth in advance.

All known Linux packagers have been contacted, and binaries for your distribution may have already been created. Information about where to get the respective binaries or how to install them can be found on the Linux binaries page in the wiki.

Downloads for other platforms may be found on the Download page in the wiki as they become available.

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The multiplayer server for 1.13.x is up and running. This server can only be used to play with other players running the latest development version.

The add-ons server for 1.13.x is already running. It was started for 1.13.0 and it serves all development releases from this series.If you encounter any problems involving add-ons not working as expected, please notify the content’s author or maintainer.

If you find any bugs, do not hesitate to report them, but please read the instructions on how to report bugs first! As bug reports in the forums tend to be forgotten, you will get better results using our bug tracker. We require your help for finding and fixing issues, no matter how obvious, trivial or complicated they seem!

Have fun!

Creator of Shadows of Deception (for 1.12) and co-creator of the Era of Chaos (for 1.12/1.13).SurvivalXtreme rocks!!!What happens when you get scared half to death...twice?

On Debian, the required libsdl2-dev 2.0.4 is only available in stretch (testing) or sid (unstable).Does Wesnoth 1.13.6 really need that or can it use libsdl2-dev 2.0.2 which is available on jessie-backports?

Great work on the new UI, love it!There is one thing I noticed. When configuring a multiplayer game, like setting the income, the tooltips overlap the actual amount, which is pretty annoying because I can't see what number I have currently set.

nuorc wrote:but is there any reason at all why [ctrl+q] doesn't quit from title-screen to desktop anymore?

Well, it might be partly because IIRC that shortcut is "Cmd+W" on Mac, and it would be a bit weird for that to quit the program even from the title screen. Though, I doubt many people would actually try it so it might not hurt.

nuorc wrote:but is there any reason at all why [ctrl+q] doesn't quit from title-screen to desktop anymore?

Well, it might be partly because IIRC that shortcut is "Cmd+W" on Mac, and it would be a bit weird for that to quit the program even from the title screen. Though, I doubt many people would actually try it so it might not hurt.

No, Command-W is close, which only applies to document windows. Command-Q should quit the app. But he or she is saying Ctrl-Q, which leads me to believe he or she is not using a Mac.

I know what Cmd+W usually means on Mac, but in Wesnoth, the default meaning is currently "quit to titlescreen". You could argue that should be changed, of course. In the editor in particular it would make more sense for it to mean "close map"... but if you bound it to "close map" then it would no longer exit the active game.

I had a few problems when changing the font size in Preferences, particularly when making it larger. I'm using 1280x720 resolution if that's relevant. (Posting here because I don't want to spam the bugtracker, but I can file reports if wanted).

* Viewing certain Help entries with font size > 100% crashes the game. (e.g. For me, it crashes when trying to view the "Dwarves" page under Units at 110%.) And at smaller font sizes, the text in Help will run onto the unit portraits.

* The credits do not show up at all for larger (>100% font sizes).

* Very large (120% or greater) font sizes will cause some of the icons for the minimap to show up as "image not found." Large fonts also cause many things such as the numbers across the top of the screen to get partially cut off.

And a minor nitpick: Changing the font size while on the titlescreen does not immediately increase the font size for items on the titlescreen.Another minor nitpick: If you make the font < 100%, then close and reopen Preferences, you'll only be able to see the first 2 digits of the percentages on the font slider.---------On a unrelated note - for the sliders in Preferences, I don't like how you have to click and drag the slider to where you want it now. I liked it better when you could just click where you wanted the slider to go like in 1.12.

The credits also don't show up if you have many addons installed, if I recall correctly; this is a known bug that will be addressed once we figure out how. (It wouldn't hurt to file a bug report though.) I was also aware of other problems with large text (like things getting cut off), but the crash in help and missing images are new.

The newer sliders need a bit of work still, as I recall. They don't snap to valid positions the way the old ones did. What you describe however is something I hadn't noticed, so thanks for mentioning it.